Presidential Perks

One of the most cushiony jobs when it comes to perks is the presidency. Whomever is president, enjoys a lot of preferential treatment. Some of those perks include: having his limo transported by plane wherever he travels, getting to see first-run and not-released movies free of charge, never stopping for a stop light or sign and his own private zip code.

We may never know just how many tax dollars are spent on these perks, as they are most often hidden in budget deals.

#1 – A president’s salary is $400,000 a year. He also gets a budget for entertainment, business and travel expenses.

#2 – Transportation…..To get him safely from place to place, he has Air Force One, Marine One and a limo available at a moment’s notice. A 2012 Congressional Research Service report found that Air Force One costs about $180,000 an hour to operate.

#3 – His residence, the White House. For the 2008 fiscal year, Bradley Patterson, a retired Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, estimated the cost of running the White House was almost $1.6 billion. And that amount didn’t include unpublished classified expenses.

And we can’t forget the White House staff, which doesn’t come cheap. In 2012 alone, the White House reported its payroll grew from $37 million in 2011 to $37.8 million. The list includes 468 names. 139 of which make more than $100,000 a year.

#4 – Secret Service protection. To protect the likes of the Obamanut, takes a lot of manpower. For this year, the budget is $1.6 billion. Note: Remember he signed into law a bill that gives him not protection while in office, but for life.

#5 – Retirement plan. According to CNBC, President Obama will receive over $191,000 a year for life as soon as he leaves office.

Not bad for screwing up a country and trying to break the Constitution, is it? So we the taxpayer are paying him to break laws.